Indiana town offering downtown buildings for $1 sale

STINESVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A town is offering to sell a set of vacant downtown buildings for $1 in hopes of finding new life for its tie to southern Indiana’s once-thriving limestone industry.

The cluster of four one-story limestone buildings was built in the Monroe County town of Stinesville between 1886 and 1894.

The Indiana Landmarks historic preservation group is working with the 200-person town about 10 miles northwest of Bloomington and suggests the buildings could become an events venue, a restaurant for workspace for artisans or craftspeople, WRTV reported.

The landmarks group describes Stinesville as a boom town in the 1890s with nearly 1,000 residents as stone workers and carvers arrived for jobs at nearby limestone quarries.

“The buildings embody the rich history of the local limestone industry and subsequent growth in the town in the late nineteenth century,” the preservation group said.

Indiana Landmarks is accepting development proposals through Nov. 15. The town and Indiana Landmarks will then review the submissions based on “experience, qualifications, financial responsibility, capacity to undertake the project, and the appropriateness of the rehabilitation plan.”